Obama says tough decisions must be made as deadline nears in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

President Barack Obama listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday. Seeking to keep a pair of delicate diplomatic efforts afloat, Obama will personally appeal to Netanyahu to move forward on peace talks with the Palestinians, while also trying to manage Israel’s deep suspicion of his pursuit of a nuclear accord with Iran. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

WASHINGTON — Seeking to salvage an elusive Middle East peace plan, President Barack Obama pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday to make the “tough decisions” needed to move forward on talks with the Palestinians.

But facing a U.S.-imposed April deadline, the Israeli leader declared pessimistically that, “Israel has been doing its part and, I regret to say, the Palestinians have not.”

Obama and Netanyahu spoke before a White House meeting on a snowy Monday in Washington. The meeting marked a more direct foray by Obama into the peace negotiations, which he has so far largely ceded to Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry has made nearly a dozen trips to the region over the past year and is seeking to get both sides to sign a framework by the end of April that would serve as a guide for negotiations on a permanent solution to the long-running conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. The framework aims to address the core issues in the dispute, including borders between Israel and a future Palestine, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of the holy city of Jerusalem.

“Some tough decisions are going to have to be made,” Obama said.

The president will meet in Washington later this month with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.